What's your gun?

I've seen this before on other forums and it seemed to generate some good discussions. Where do you hunt (meaning the state or region) and what is your weapon of choice?
I hunt in Maine and I used to hunt with 12 gauge shotgun with buckshot when I was learning. I've have hunted with a .303 British and a 30-30 Winchester carbine all with open sites. Shortly after the state instituted a bucks only law I went looking for something with a scope. So, I bought a Remington .308 Woodsmaster with a Redfield 3x9 scope. I like the gun except now as I get old and it appears some arthritis is kicking in, it is a very heavy gun so I need to go looking for something smaller and lighter. Thinking maybe a .30 Caliber carbine or something along those lines.

I don't even know here in MS. Tom. In Indiana all you could use was slug guns and ML. I used an Moss. 835 ultra mag with a rifled barrel and a Rem. 700 ML with a 3X9X35 scope for a smokepole. Here in MS> they hunt some with rifles, some with slugs and some with 00 buck, depending on the section of state your in and the method of hunting your doing.

I use an Ithaca Model 37 12ga with 2 3/4in. slugs. While you are limited to 50 yards w/o a rifled barrel, it is pretty effective. Besides it doesn't get much more classic as far as deer hunting shotguns go.

What is interesting is wandering around from forum to forum all over the country and when you land back in Maine, it's easy to tell the Mainer's guns - 30-30, shot guns w/ buckshot, open sites, peep sites.
We hunt the woods - real woods.

I hunted for years, and killed a few deer, using a Marlin 30-30 with a 3x9 scope and iron peep sites.

At some point I wanted more power to reach out and touch things in that special way, and I started using a .270. Great rifle, but rough on the ears as well as the shoulder. And I belated realized that here in NE Florida or SE Georgia, there's little likelihood of a long shot, which makes the .270 a bit of an overkill.

Finally I settled on a Browning .243 automatic. I still have the 3x9 scope over peep sites, but the rifle is definitely my final choice in this part of the world. It doesn't beat you up, and with an extremely flat trajectory you can still go out quite a distance and be successful. I dropped a nice 9 point year before last, at 215 yards, in his tracks with one round.

I remember a friend of mine bought a .270 bolt action. I helped him sight it in and I want to tell you it is hard on the ears and shoulder.
Another friend of mine bought a slightly used .243, I think it was a Winchester. What a sweet shooting piece that was. He immediately fell in love and I think he still uses it.

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